Posted on 08/25/2021 3:10:29 PM PDT by ebb tide
To decide imperiously that the conscience conflicted by the cooperation in ethically compromised vaccines is necessarily in error and opposed to authoritative teaching – in other words, to suppress the faculty of reason in others and replace it with own’s own – is the worst form of clericalism. It is spiritual abuse.
(LifeSiteNews) — As vaccine mandates loom and even go into effect across our nation and world, the moral question of the liceity of COVID vaccines currently on the market becomes ever more pressing. More and more frequently, apologists for liceity lean ever harder on a document issued by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), Note on the morality of some anti-Covid-19 vaccines, as well as certain statements made by the Holy Father.
Arguments for or against the use of ethically compromised vaccines necessarily rely upon principles of material cooperation, which in general provide the grounds for some of the most difficult and uncertain moral questions encountered by theologians and ethicists. Questions of material cooperation inevitably require the identification and weighing of various moral principles against concrete circumstances, and therefore usually admit of only probable and contingent solutions. Solutions will remain only so strong as their suppositions of concrete facts represent real conditions, and as their conclusions accurately weigh those facts against the moral principles at hand. With regard to ethically compromised vaccines, it is imperative that accurate judgments are formed regarding the nature of the evil demanding material cooperation, as well as the proportionate and grave need that excuses it. Both the former and the latter are difficult to measure, and individuals will often measure them differently in good faith.
Vaccine apologists are increasingly obscuring the contingent nature of arguments regarding material cooperation, and – tragically – representing statements from the CDF as authoritative and binding upon Catholic conscience, where in fact the CDF itself does not do so. “Practical reason,” the dicastery writes, “makes evident that vaccination is not, as a rule, a moral obligation and that, therefore, it must be voluntary.” It admits that some Catholics will refuse vaccination “for reasons of conscience,” and, far from identifying such a conscience as erroneous, gives practical instruction for alternative means of securing the common good.
The arguments in favor of the vaccines tend to take for granted several suppositions that are demonstrably false, or at least dubious and controverted; in addition, some of them are medical or sociopolitical judgments, and therefore go beyond the scope of ecclesiastical competency. Those suppositions and my response to them follow.
In point of fact, we know that new cell lines were generated as recently as 2015. The reason? Current cell lines are reaching the point of exhaustion in cell division. “But since these cell lines [WI-38 and MRC-5] are approaching the end of their ability to self-replicate, a group of Chinese vaccine researchers, Bo Ma et al, have developed a new (human diploid) cell strain, Walvax-2.” The NIH heartlessly and clinically describes the process of obtaining the samples necessary for Walvax-2: “We obtained 9 fetuses through rigorous screening based on carefully specified inclusion criteria… The Walvax-2 strain of cells met all of these criteria and proved to be the best cell line following careful evaluation. Therefore it was used for establishing a human diploid cell strain.”
New cell lines are developed not only to replace fading lines, but to supplement them with new types of tissue.
The commercialization of biological samples dependent on abortion is not ongoing. This is false. New cell lines have been developed, to our knowledge, as recently as 2015. The Center for Medical Progress, in recent news, exposed the ongoing complicity of abortion providers in obtaining these samples. And finally, even in recent weeks, the University of Pittsburgh has been implicated in obtaining samples from children born alive, with their hearts still beating. The gruesome crimes of the university were done at the behest of NIH funding – that is, with monies obtained from the American taxpayer. Other universities are potentially implicated in a practice that would seem to have been going on for decades.
There is increasing evidence that current vaccines, while reducing serious symptoms in the short term, possibly do little to prevent the spread of disease and have potentially lethal side effects in the short and medium term. Long term side effects still remain entirely unknown. Serious caution has been issued by prestigious medical authorities, including but not limited to: Dr. Robert Malone (one of the original developers of mRNA technologies), Dr. Michael Yeadon (former researcher and vice president of Pfizer), Dr. Vladimir Zelenko (who has treated over 6000 COVID patients), and Dr. Luc Montagnier (a Nobel laureate for his discovery of HIV). My purpose here is not to endorse the views of these or other medical professionals, but merely to acknowledge that they exist, and may contribute materially to the moral conclusions of Catholic individuals as to the grave danger of the disease, the lack of reasonable alternatives for treatment, and the relative risk of the vaccines themselves. Taken together, Catholics may in good conscience, and based on their own circumstances, disagree on these matters, and whether a grave and proportionate need may excuse cooperation.
Catholic theologians and bishops may dismiss the arguments put forward in #1 to #5, and may even find absurd any doubts arising from #6 to #8. But they can and must allow liberty to the individual Catholic conscience – a liberty affirmed by the CDF itself. Here, the reasonable and balanced decrees of the bishops of Colorado and South Dakota are commendable. Those on both sides of this question must remember that Catholics cannot be forbidden from following, in good conscience, a probable moral opinion. “A human being,” the Catechism of the Catholic Church argues, “must always obey the certain judgment of his conscience. If he were deliberately to act against it, he would condemn himself. Yet it can happen that moral conscience remains in ignorance and makes erroneous judgments about acts to be performed or already committed.” (CCC 1790)
To decide imperiously that the conscience conflicted by the cooperation in ethically compromised vaccines is necessarily in error and opposed to authoritative teaching (or that it is at least not informed by principles of Catholic theology and the natural law) – in other words, to suppress the faculty of reason in others and replace it with own’s own – is the worst form of clericalism. It is spiritual abuse.
Ping
any form or level of coercion negates informed consent. period.
so if you believe that coercion (without due process as defined under the constitution) trumps informed consent, you’re a tyrant. it’s not any harder than that.
Better notify Francis the Talking Heretic.
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